Entangled: Genesis On Record 1969-1976

by Martin Popoff

Did Genesis represent the best and most classic definition of a progressive rock band? Were they the most British? What kind of personalities and sensibilities did we get out of Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford and where did all these 12-string guitars come from? What’s a “Giant Hogweed” and who is “Harold the Barrel?” Finally, what the heck is The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway about, anyway?! These are some of the questions grappled with, as Martin Popoff assembles a crack team of art rock analysts to examine the early-days records of this legendary band, From Genesis to Revelation Trespass Nursery Cryme Foxtrot Selling England by the Pound The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway A Trick of the Tail and finally… Wind & Wuthering Indeed, each of the above is dissected track by track with side-trips into the album covers, the productions, lyrical narratives and individual performances of note. It is the hope of the author that by the end of this fantastical excursion, the reader will have discovered multiple new layers to this intensely cerebral band, prompting a reacquaintance and subsequent richness of experience when confronted with this―let’s face it―often daunting catalogue.

262 pages, Paperback

Published September 27, 2024

About the author

At approximately 7900 (with over 7000 appearing in his books), Martin has unofficially written more record reviews than anybody in the history of music writing across all genres. Additionally, Martin has penned approximately 85 books on hard rock, heavy metal, classic rock and record collecting. He was Editor-In-Chief of the now retired Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Canada’s foremost metal publication for 14 years, and has also contributed to Revolver, Guitar World, Goldmine, Record Collector, bravewords.com, lollipop.com and hardradio.com, with many record label band bios and liner notes to his credit as well. Additionally, Martin has been a regular contractor to Banger Films, having worked for two years as researcher on the award-winning documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, on the writing and research team for the 11-episode Metal Evolution and on the ten-episode Rock Icons, both for VH1 Classic. Additionally, Martin is the writer of the original metal genre chart used in Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and throughout the Metal Evolution episodes. Martin currently resides in Toronto and can be reached through martinp@inforamp.net or www.martinpopoff.com.

Reviews

[Ray Smillie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I sometimes find Wymer books frustrating. They promise but don't actually fully deliver. Being honest I went off Genesis after Peter Gabriel left, preferring his solo work to a Gabriel free Genesis. Glad this stopped at the last album featuring Steve Hackett as they, in my opinion, got worse. Too much technical waffle in this book for me.

[John Hilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gushing

Interesting but flawed write up of the Genesis studio albums up to Wind and Wuthering.
The format is good, with each section a conversation between several writers. But it gets a bit too gushing, with everything Tony Banks and Phil Collins does sending the writers into (repetitive) raptures. I am not inclined to read any more titles in this series.